GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: AL: KANSAS CITY (22-38) at CLEVELAND (35-22)

AL: KANSAS CITY at CLEVELAND

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KANSAS CITY (3) AT CLEVELAND (8) - HOW THEY SCORED
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CLEVELAND 4TH: R Garko flied out to left. J Michaels walked. J Barfield
doubled to deep left center, J Michaels scored, J Barfield thrown out at third
attempting to advance on play. F Gutierrez homered to right. G Sizemore
singled to right. G Sizemore stole second. C Blake struck out swinging.
(2 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 2.

CLEVELAND 6TH: R Garko flied out to center. J Michaels homered to center.
B Duckworth relieved O Perez. J Barfield flied out to left. F Gutierrez flied
out to left. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 3.

KANSAS CITY 7TH: A Gordon tripled to deep center. E German grounded out to
third. J Buck singled to center, A Gordon scored. T Pena Jr grounded into
fielder's choice to shortstop, J Buck out at second. J Gathright singled to
center, T Pena Jr to second. D DeJesus grounded out to pitcher. (1 Run,
3 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 1, CLEVELAND 3.

CLEVELAND 8TH: J Peralta walked. R Garko safe at first on error by
shortstop T Pena Jr, J Peralta to second. J Michaels sacrificed to pitcher,
J Peralta to third, R Garko to second. Z Greinke relieved B Duckworth.
J Barfield hit sacrifice fly to right, J Peralta scored. R Garko to third on
wild pitch by Z Greinke. F Gutierrez walked. G Sizemore doubled to left,
R Garko and F Gutierrez scored, G Sizemore to third advancing on throw.
C Blake homered to left, G Sizemore scored. T Hafner flied out to center.
(5 Runs, 2 Hits, 1 Error) KANSAS CITY 1, CLEVELAND 8.

KANSAS CITY 9TH: T Mastny relieved R Betancourt. A Gordon singled to right.
E German walked, A Gordon to second. J Buck struck out swinging. S Costa hit
for T Pena Jr. S Costa grounded into fielder's choice to first, E German out
at second, A Gordon to third. S Costa to second on fielder's indifference.
J Gathright singled to right, A Gordon and S Costa scored. J Gathright to
second on fielder's indifference. D DeJesus lined out to pitcher. (2 Runs,
2 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 3, CLEVELAND 8.</div>

 

AL: KANSAS CITY at CLEVELAND

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KANSAS CITY (3) AT CLEVELAND (8) - EVENT LOG
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Kansas City Starting Lineups -- D DeJesus CF, M Grudzielanek 2B, M Teahen RF,
E Brown DH, A Gordon 1B, E German 3B, J Buck C, T Pena Jr SS, J Gathright LF,
O Perez LHP.

Cleveland Starting Lineups -- G Sizemore CF, C Blake 3B, T Hafner DH,
V Martinez C, J Peralta SS, R Garko 1B, J Michaels LF, J Barfield 2B,
F Gutierrez RF, F Carmona RHP.

Umpires -- Tim Tschida (HP), Jim Joyce (1B), Troy Fullwood (2B), Jim Wolf (3B).


Gametime Weather: 81 degrees, Sunny, wind out to center at 15 mph.


KANSAS CITY 1ST: D DeJesus walked. M Grudzielanek struck out swinging.
M Teahen grounded into double play, third to second to first, D DeJesus out
at second.(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 0.

CLEVELAND 1ST: G Sizemore flied out to center. C Blake flied out to right.
T Hafner walked. V Martinez doubled to deep left, T Hafner to third.
J Peralta struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0,
CLEVELAND 0.

KANSAS CITY 2ND: E Brown flied out to center. A Gordon doubled to deep
right center. E German grounded out to second, A Gordon to third. J Buck
flied out to center. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 0.

CLEVELAND 2ND: R Garko hit by pitch. J Michaels flied out to right.
J Barfield reached on bunt single to third, R Garko to second. F Gutierrez
grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first, J Barfield out at
second.(0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 0.

KANSAS CITY 3RD: T Pena Jr popped out to second. J Gathright reached on
bunt single to second. J Gathright stole second. D DeJesus struck out
swinging. J Gathright to third on wild pitch by F Carmona. M Grudzielanek
struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 0.

CLEVELAND 3RD: G Sizemore struck out looking. C Blake walked. T Hafner
singled to right, C Blake to second. V Martinez flied out to center.
J Peralta grounded into fielder's choice to third, T Hafner out at second.
(0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 0.

KANSAS CITY 4TH: M Teahen flied out to center. E Brown grounded out to
shortstop. A Gordon singled to deep right. E German struck out swinging.
(0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 0.

CLEVELAND 4TH: R Garko flied out to left. J Michaels walked. J Barfield
doubled to deep left center, J Michaels scored, J Barfield thrown out at third
attempting to advance on play. F Gutierrez homered to right. G Sizemore
singled to right. G Sizemore stole second. C Blake struck out swinging.
(2 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 2.

KANSAS CITY 5TH: J Buck grounded out to pitcher. T Pena Jr grounded out
to third. J Gathright struck out looking. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 2.

CLEVELAND 5TH: T Hafner grounded out to shortstop. V Martinez grounded
out to shortstop. J Peralta struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 2.

KANSAS CITY 6TH: D DeJesus grounded out to second. M Grudzielanek grounded
out to third. M Teahen singled to center. E Brown flied out to left. (0 Runs,
1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 2.

CLEVELAND 6TH: R Garko flied out to center. J Michaels homered to center.
B Duckworth relieved O Perez. J Barfield flied out to left. F Gutierrez flied
out to left. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, CLEVELAND 3.

KANSAS CITY 7TH: A Gordon tripled to deep center. E German grounded out to
third. J Buck singled to center, A Gordon scored. T Pena Jr grounded into
fielder's choice to shortstop, J Buck out at second. J Gathright singled to
center, T Pena Jr to second. D DeJesus grounded out to pitcher. (1 Run,
3 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 1, CLEVELAND 3.

CLEVELAND 7TH: G Sizemore struck out swinging. C Blake flied out to left.
T Hafner walked. V Martinez flied out to center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
KANSAS CITY 1, CLEVELAND 3.

KANSAS CITY 8TH: R Betancourt relieved F Carmona. M Grudzielanek flied
out to center. M Teahen flied out to center. E Brown struck out swinging.
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 1, CLEVELAND 3.

CLEVELAND 8TH: J Peralta walked. R Garko safe at first on error by
shortstop T Pena Jr, J Peralta to second. J Michaels sacrificed to pitcher,
J Peralta to third, R Garko to second. Z Greinke relieved B Duckworth.
J Barfield hit sacrifice fly to right, J Peralta scored. R Garko to third
on wild pitch by Z Greinke. F Gutierrez walked. G Sizemore doubled to left,
R Garko and F Gutierrez scored, G Sizemore to third advancing on throw.
C Blake homered to left, G Sizemore scored. T Hafner flied out to center.
(5 Runs, 2 Hits, 1 Error) KANSAS CITY 1, CLEVELAND 8.

KANSAS CITY 9TH: T Mastny relieved R Betancourt. A Gordon singled to right.
E German walked, A Gordon to second. J Buck struck out swinging. S Costa hit
for T Pena Jr. S Costa grounded into fielder's choice to first, E German out
at second, A Gordon to third. S Costa to second on fielder's indifference.
J Gathright singled to right, A Gordon and S Costa scored. J Gathright to
second on fielder's indifference. D DeJesus lined out to pitcher. (2 Runs,
2 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 3, CLEVELAND 8.</div>

 

Carmona cruises to seventh straight win as Indians roll

<h3>CLEVELAND 8, KANSAS CITY 3</h3>CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- A year after squandering an opportunity,Fausto Carmona has taken advantage of another one.

Carmona won his seventh decision in a row as the ClevelandIndians defeated the Kansas City Royals, 8-3, on Thursday.

The victory improved the Indians' home record to 21-7, the bestmark in the majors. Cleveland is 9-0-1 in 10 series this seasonat Jacobs Field.

Carmona (7-1), who has not lost since his first start of theseason, allowed one run and seven hits while matching a seasonhigh with five strikeouts in seven innings.

"I threw my changeup more along with my sinker," Carmona saidthrough an interpreter. "My changeup was going good and I usedit more than I had the whole season."

Last year, Carmona was inserted into the closer's role after theIndians traded Bob Wickman to the Atlanta Braves.

But the experiment failed miserably, as Carmona blew his firstthree save opportunities and lost five consecutive decisionsfrom July 30 through August 23, 2006 with a 16.39 ERA as areliever.

"I try not to think about (last year)," Carmona said. "I'm notthinking about how I am pitching. I just to want to concentrateon my next start."

This season has been a different story for Carmona, who wassupposed to start the season at Class AAA Buffalo. But aninjury to lefthander Cliff Lee opened up a spot for Carmona inthe rotation and the righthander capitalized, going 2-1 with a3.76 ERA.

Carmona was sent back to the minors when Lee was activated butnever made it to Buffalo, as righthander Jake Westbrook wasplaced on the DL to leave a rotation spot open. Carmona hasn'tlooked back since then, going 5-0 in eight starts with a 2.76ERA.

Now with Westbrook's return possibly a week away, the Indianshave no choice but to keep Carmona on their roster.

"This young man has done a lot of work to be the pitcher that heis right now," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "I don't thinkanything happens by accident. He has a lot of confidence, andit shows in the results."

The only Royal to have any success off of Carmona was rookieAlex Gordon, who went 4-for-4 and was a homer short of thecycle.

"I just came in with the mindset to be aggressive and attack,"said Gordon, whose four hits were a career high. "I knowCarmona likes to throw the fastball early and I decided to goafter it."

Gordon's leadoff triple in the seventh was the only time KansasCity had a runner at third the whole afternoon against Carmona.John Buck would drive home Gordon with a single.

The Indians broke open a 3-1 game with a five-run eighth inningThursday. Josh Barfield hit a sacrifice fly and Grady Sizemorehad a two-out, two-run double to make it 6-1.

Casey Blake followed Sizemore's double with a two-run homer,extending his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games andcapping off the scoring.

"I fouled off some tough pitches," Blake said. "I was happy hethrow a heater up high that I didn't chase.

"It's nice to be on the streak, but I don't care about that. Ijust want us to win."

Cleveland jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. Aftera one-out walk to Jason Michaels, Barfield hit an RBI double toleft-center field but was thrown out trying to advance to third.

Franklin Gutierrez followed with a home run to right on OdalisPerez's 2-0 pitch, his second blast of the season.

"I didn't think the ball was out," Gutierrez said. "I knew Ihit it hard, I thought it might hit the top of the wall, so Istarted running."

Michaels extended Cleveland's lead to 3-0 with a solo home runin the sixth off of Perez (3-6), ending the lefthander's day.

Perez, who didn't get the run support he did in his last startagainst Tampa Bay, allowed the three runs and seven hits,walking three and striking out four in 5 1/3 frames.

"It wasn't a bad outing," Perez said. "When you have a problemwith a strike zone, it's tough to go deep in the games,especially against that lineup."

Kansas City added a pair of runs in the ninth thanks to JoeyGathright, who blooped a two-run hit with two outs to make it8-3.